Oxford's latest introduction on the Bedford QLD is as used by the Royal
Army Service Corps with the Eighth Army, which in turn was a field army
deployed in the North African and Italian campaigns of World War II.
The QLD was the general service cargo truck, built by Bedford between
1941 and 1945 specifically for military use and able to carry 12 persons
including the driver. Our model is appropriately decorated in a desert
scheme of sandy yellow, even down to the bumpers and wheels, with darker
beige tilt behind the cab. It also wears the RAF roundel on the cabin
roof. Its military lettering is printed in white on both cab doors and
across the back of the vehicle, supplemented by the regimental insignia
on the front nearside wing and the rear.
The RASC was the unit responsible for supplying the British Army with
all their provisions with the exclusion of armaments, so our truck
would have been driving around delivering supplies of all kinds to the
troops in the field.